Aaron and Justine

A chance encounter at a Berlin train station led to a day of sightseeing for Aaron and Justine. After a year of long-distance dating between Australia and Germany, Justine moved to Australia for a year for school and then the two settled in Germany so she could finish up. We’ll let Aaron take it from here:

We had been living in Germany for two months and I had been thinking about proposing to Justine. I didn’t feel comfortable about purchasing an engagement ring in Germany with the challenges that come with the language barrier. After spending weeks researching engagement rings, diamonds, and suppliers, I came to the conclusion that Blue Nile was where I felt most comfortable making such an important purchase. A short time later, I received the engagement ring and it was everything I imagined and more.

I decided that Christmas approaching it would be a perfect opportunity to propose to her in the house where she grew up and where she already has so many memories. There also happens to be a sweet rooftop with great sunset views, weather permitting.

On Christmas Day, I snuck off up to the rooftop to commence the preparations. Everything was going to plan. The rain had cleared and the clouds had broken up to create an epic sunset. However, as I had just completed lighting the 100 odd candles, a massive gust of wind came and blew them all out. I was gutted. I honestly didn’t know what to do. I even contemplated pulling the pin and rescheduling the entire proposal. Nope, I’d come too far! I lit what candles I could in a short time before I lost the sunset. I set up the GoPro and went and grabbed Justine.

Turns out that another gust of wind did blow out more of the candles, but the sunset was spot on and she said, “yes,” and that’s all that mattered.

Ted and Krys

Online dating is a fact of modern life. Here’s an example of it working out.

Ted and Krys met on OKCupid four years ago. A friend’s wedding in Cinque Terre in Italy (one of the world’s most romantic spots) got the two talking about what kind of ring Krys would want and what kind of stone. “Very covert. Not,” says Krys. She continues:

So I just knew he’d propose while on the trip, but had no idea when or where. The trip included many cities, 5 different countries, and spanned over nearly a month. So everyday, I’d put on a full face of makeup, and hold my breath thinking, “Is this the day he asks? This has gotta be it! Is he getting on his knee? No wait, he’s just tying his shoe!”

That morning I woke up, and I knew in my bones that whether he asked or not, it didn’t matter. I’d found my person, and if nothing changed, that’d be just fine by me. That day we wondered around this adorable little town called Soller. We drove to the cliffs overlooking the bay, just in time to catch the sunset. We sat on the edge of this 50-foot rock wall, our feet dangling down over a small farm of sheep and just in that moment a young German couple on their babymoon, pulls over to also watch the sunset, too. The wife sees us, and Ted asks her to take our picture. As I’m standing there, posing for this photo, he slides down to one knee, his hands shaking like a leaf as he says, “Krystal Marshall, will you marry me?”

And in that moment, time stopped.

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t speak; all I could do was cry. For so long I honestly never thought that I would meet my person. One who truly understood me, who accepted me, who forgave my shortcomings, and loved me for me. I was flooded with emotion, and it took me a good 90 seconds to finally whimper through a snotty nose and tears, “yeah…”